


The Lotus

by scifiphan



Series: THE LOTUS [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Multilingual, lots of fluff, percabeth, solangelo, southern accent! will
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-09 00:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6881698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifiphan/pseuds/scifiphan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It, which has been opened up, is filled with power<br/>With its’ words it shall devour<br/>She, who contains the power, cannot be saved<br/>As the path she walks down has already been paved</p><p>An impending war, led by a mortal<br/>His words carried on through a sleek black portal<br/>The Four shall wade into unfamiliar shallows<br/>She, A son of sleep, and the sun and shadows</p><p>The Lotus has bloomed, lying in wait<br/>Now, at last ready to demonstrate<br/>An equal to none, an equal to all<br/>Alas, The Lotus shall wither, before night falls</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prologue

 

"It's time, my lord." A voice echoed throughout his chambers. He took a deep breath in as he stepped outside. Heads bowed as he wound his way into the throne room. The other eleven Olympians (and Hades) are seated at their rightful places. He takes note at how odd it is that they are here yet none of them are bickering among one another. It's not peaceful, however as stress hangs in the air.

In the middle, a box sits on a podium.

Not Pandora's. Hers is more of a jar, a pithos. He doesn't take his rightful seat at the front, next to his queen and instead walks around the podium. She looks weak. In fact, all of them do. As he passes Aphrodite, there's a lone strand of grey hair. Athena looks frazzled. Even Apollo (the nuisance) isn't checking his reflection.

He finally rests in front of the chest. The gods and goddesses rise in unity. They join together, encircling it. They place their right hands on top of the ornate and ancient object.

And in their native tongue, they spoke one word.


	2. tired

**one - tired**

Percy was the first to notice her. It was dead of the night and they were at their spot. Though the harpies would gladly gobble them up if they saw them out past curfew (not to mention Chiron would be very displeased).

Said spot was under one of the trees, next to the lake. Though it was nearing the end of summer, the nights had been freezing. Fortunately, Annabeth had once mentioned in a meeting with Chiron that Greek Fire would be nice if it had lined the shore, illuminating the lake at night-time so that they could see any incoming vessels. Reluctantly, he agreed. It was also a good source of warmth for their nights like these.

He loved them. And Gods, did he love this girl. He loved how she would bury her golden hair in the crook of his neck when a breeze flew by. He loved how she was at ease when he absentmindedly traced patterns on her skin. He loved her smarts, how she'd saved him multiple times. He loved how they would talk about nothing and everything. Only if it had lasted.

He and Annabeth were on the way to check on Peleus, the dragon who protected the Golden Fleece. He was causing quite a ruckus, and rather than getting spotted, they decided it would be best if they calmed him down. The dragon had been thrashing around, making as much noise as he could. They approached Thalia's pine tree, Annabeth trying to calm him down. Percy noticed lights turning on and the clang of metal and footsteps rapidly nearing.

And then he saw her.

Sprawled on the ground, there was a person. A mop of long brown hair covered her face; she was clad in clean, dark clothing. Percy found this odd, thinking if one were to be sprawled out here, they surely would be dirty, wouldn't they? Without a second thought, he yelled, "Annabeth!"

She gasped as she rounded the corner as Percy scooped the girl up, just as a few dozen campers (including Chiron), wearing a mix of pyjamas and armour, arrived near the gate. He ran past them, rushing towards the infirmary. The girl had been light, and so far, he hadn't seen her chest raise or drop. Annabeth was the first to react. "Move! Get Will Solace!"

Everyone was running with Percy, either out of curiosity (you know, the whole what-the-Hera-is-going-on-I-was-asleep thing) or need to help. There was an abundance of blonde-haired and tanned campers running with them. The Apollo cabin was there, with Will sprinting in the front, keeping up with Percy. In the midst of the night, there was also numerous voices that rang out, "What's happening?", "Who is that?", "Are they alright?"

As they neared the infirmary, Annabeth saw a more-than-familiar face. "What's going on?" Nico di Angelo, who looked more awake right now than he typically was at noon, said. "I heard Peleus and a bunch of other campers here."

"Percy and I went to check on Peleus," Annabeth said, entering the infirmary. They stood at a reasonable distance away from Will and Percy, the latter gingerly laying down the girl. She looked fine, considering the fact that she was unconscious and not breathing. "And then while I was trying to calm him down, Percy saw her."

A curtain now separated them and the girl, Percy emerging as other Apollo campers assisted Will, who was yelling commands. Most of the other campers now went left to go back to their respective cabins, brushing aside the thought that they were under attack.

Percy smiled at someone behind them, and Nico and Annabeth turned around to see Chiron-- who was in centaur mode and wore pyjamas. Chiron gave a tired, knowing smile and said, "Glad to know you and Percy were the first ones to react, minutes before the campers even woke up."

Nico took note of a blush slowly creeping its way onto Annabeth's cheeks. It was nice to see the two interacting-- Percy was definitely not Nico's type. He opted for a certain blonde, son of Apollo who was currently attending to the unknown girl.

Just minutes ago, the two were in the Hades cabin before they heard Lou Ellen yelling, "What in the Gods' names is it now?"

As Percy approached them now, they were hit with that odd, sea-smell that emitted from him. But what Nico was concerned about now was the girl. As soon as he saw Percy carrying her, he felt death. But now...

As time went by, he felt it receding. Slowly, but it was there. Whatever Will was doing, it had been working. Percy and Annabeth had slumped into chairs nearby as soon as Chiron left, who 'wanted more elaboration, but rest comes first.'

Percy was chewing on his nails.  He tends to do that when he was anxious. He stopped his disgusting habit and instead resorted to bouncing his leg. He glanced at Annabeth, sleeping. Her brows were furrowed, and all Percy wanted to was to smooth the worry lines. Instead, he grabbed her hand and his girlfriend eased. "No," He finally said, turning his attention to Will. "Should we contact Reyna?"

Just then, the large double doors of the infirmary opened up to reveal Jason Grace, son of Zeus. His hair was messy and slightly dripping from his morning shower. "What's going on? I just heard about last night. Do we know her?"

Nico shook his head, partially to say 'no' and at how ridiculously heroic Jason is. Of course, he would be the first to check up on the newest camper. Percy spoke up, "We were just discussing her. Can you check on her to see if you recognize her? We don't really want a repeat of what happened between the Roman and Greek exchange again."

Which was true. Ever since that incident, the two camps had been interacting with each other more, and were sure to ask the other camp whenever someone new appeared. Just to be on the safe side. The Gods know how traumatizing it had been. For everyone. The other day, the Romans panicked due to the fact that Praetor Frank Zhang went missing for a few hours, when in reality, Hazel had taken Frank out on his birthday. Needless to say, there was a flurry of relief and celebration as they came back.

"Do you wanna come with, Nico?" The younger boy's head snapped up as he was addressed by Jason. Lost in his own thoughts again.

He didn't speak, but headed towards the only occupied bed at the moment. Speaking of beds, the two lovebirds, Annabeth and Percy looked like they needed some. The two had crashed, asleep on the chairs with fingers intertwined.

  
However, as soon as he checked on the girl he looked shaken up. He went out as quickly as he could and ran to the big house. Nico saw numerous lights turning on. He paced around as hours passed and the sun was just starting to rise when Will and other Cabin 7 kids stepped from behind the curtain, a tired smile plastered on his face. "She's... stable."

His siblings started to file outside, obviously worn out. They seemed to had used lots of their powers. Will slung an arm around his smaller boyfriend before turning to Percy, who was chewing on his thumb nail. "Did you recognize her?"  
Reasons unbeknownst to Nico, he felt weights on his shoulders as he walked. What was the matter? The feeling of death was no more, but another sense had replaced it. Fear, perhaps? For whom? For himself? The girl? Jason? What was he expecting, really? Frustrated, he ruffled his hair back, slightly pulling on it. What was the worst that could happen?

Jason took notice of Nico's behaviour, of course. He slung an arm around the boy (er.. man, considering all those years at Lotus.) He felt him tense before relaxing in the slightest. Jason pulled back the curtain.

There she was. Nico sighed in relief. Nothing wrong. No one they knew. They were breathing.

She was still in the loose, dark clothing he'd caught a glimpse of last night. Sweatpants. A sweater that had the words, "FALL OUT BOY" and what looked to him an exploding volcano plastered on the front. Tan skin, dark hair, and frail physique. He took note of the fact that she looked to be around his age. It looked like every feature on her was emphasized. Large lips and forehead, bold eyebrows, an almost-but-not-quite button nose, and her hair reminded Nico of Rachel's. Only, there was a blue flower crown that kept it off her face. Speaking of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the Greek camp's current Oracle, was currently nowhere to be found. She'd left Camp Half-Blood a week ago stating, "Business."

"Familiar to you?" Jason asked, once again breaking Nico's train of thought. He was also analyzing her from afar, while Nico had unwilling stepped closer to her. Nico was about to answer when her eyelashes fluttered open and revealed eyes that were definitely familiar to him.

Bianca di Angelo, his dead sister. Bianca's eyes.

xxx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah. okay. just to clear it up: no, it is not bianca. nico would've recognized her at first glance, no? so would percy and annabeth. and probably will. so, that was the first chapter. i've been planning this out in my head for quite some time (like, a year.), rather than what i used to do with my fics. i used to come up with a rad main character and a story plot that consisted of a few events and an ending. a few deaths, too. but they lacked so much backbone. which is why, i've decided: new account, new me, right?  
> also, i'm writing THIS CHAPTER as of may 4, 2016. toa has come out, but the nearest (book)store to me as of right now is around an hour away. what fun it is to not be able to check my tumblr and twitter. BUT. more importantly. as i said, i haven't read trials of apollo yet. and i have been moulding this story for almost a year. forgive me for any similarities between the two.  
> thoughts? praise? criticism? death threats? is anyone even reading this? leave them here !


	3. unease

**two - unease**

Nico practically passes out. He remembers them so clearly, staring down at him. (Gods know Bianca was the taller sibling)  But the love and warmth in her eyes was absent in the pair now staring up at him. Everything is blurry. He steps back, and vaguely remembers Jason calling for Will and how out of place the girl looked.

_Bianca._

This was not her. This wasn’t the person he’d known for as long as he could remember, being by his side at all times. Chastising him. Accepting him. Teaching him. Nico repeated these words over and over again in his head, convincing himself.

She reeked of death.

Will bursts through the curtain, but not before Nico takes a final step back and trips over a damned duffel bag. Blonde hair clouds his vision before he does what he always does. Under the shadow of the large figure, the son of Hades melts into the shadows.

Percy Jackson really, _really_ just wants to get some rest. No more than a few minutes after he’s peacefully drifted off to sleep with his girlfriend’s hand in his, he’s woken up by Jason yelling.

Out of habit, he stands up and runs, already uncapping Riptide. Annabeth follows suit, who woke up as soon as she felt Percy untangling their fingers. He sees Will tear open the curtains and Jason Grace is holding Nico di Angelo is his arms. Nico looks flustered and terrified. Then, he slips away.

Jason is thinking, _What the Hades just—_

**THUMP!**

His back is suddenly against the wall, medical instruments strewn about as his foot hits a nearby table. Clear, sea-green eyes that usually gave the impression of friendliness, were now staring back at him with menace. “What were you doing, Grace?”

“What are you talking about? Annabeth!” He replies, trying to call out for preferably the best person to get Percy off of him. Though he’s smaller, Percy has his fist filled with Jason’s shirt and Riptide at his side.

The daughter of Athena looked confused, at the mention of her name, she’s brought out of this and starts pulling Percy off of him. Jason would pry him off, but he was unarmed and Percy was a _fine_ swordsman. “I didn’t do anything to Nico! Will! Tell him what happened!”

Will was by the girl’s side, though, saying things too soft for them to hear. They appeared to be talking whilst Will made a quick examination--there was distraught in his expression but he took care of the girl first. Annabeth took notice of this too, as she yelled, “Percy! She’s awake! Stop!”

Jason was considering just straight up summoning lighting to get him back to his senses, but the terror in Annabeth’s voice was more than enough for Percy. He shakes his head and lets go of Jason. The blonde can hear him muttering, “sorry”s over and over. He can’t see his face. He hangs his head low, ashamed.

 _Oh._ Jason finally understands. “It’s okay, bro.” He pats Percy’s back, still confused by all that’s going on.

His girlfriend whispers something in his ear and he runs his hand through his hair before finally looking up. His eyes are still clear. No menace. Will coughs, catching their attention.

“Folks, meet Karsten. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I gotta find the Lord of Darkness, he never goes that far. He can’t.” He awkwardly stepped out of the infirmary. Karsten was sitting up on the bed, eyes studying the three demigods. Though she didn’t know that yet. To the two boys, Annabeth whispered, “We’ll deal with Nico later. I’m sure he wants Will right now. For our task, it’s her.”

 With twiddling thumbs, she says, “Can I go home now? Or do I have to sign release papers?”

Annabeth catches the accent in her voice, smiles patiently and sits down at the foot of the bed. “Karsten, right?” She’s guaranteed with a small nod from the girl. “I’m Annabeth, this is Percy and Jason. Percy and I found you last night by our hill.”

“Oh. Thank you, but I wasn’t even out last night.” Percy caps Riptide and Karsten looks terrified. “I-I don’t remember anything. I’m pretty sure I’m not even _from_ this country.”

Annabeth’s smile is still plastered on her face. “It’s all right. Most demigods are brought here unknowingly by their godly parents.” 

An animal, when cornered will try to attack. As of this moment, Karsten was _not_ going to attack when she was outnumbered by sword-wielding teenagers who were clearly a force not to be reckoned with. But of course, that didn’t stop her mouth from saying what she thought. “Is this some sort of child trafficking group? Did you guys somehow kidnap me last night?”

Jason couldn’t help but laugh. They’d had plenty of kids say things like these, and they’d usually be from the Athena cabin. Those people were smart as a horsewhip and took no sort of bullshit. “You found her, Jackson. You show her.”

Percy, who was chewing on his nail _again,_ looked offended. “Why me? We have Wise Girl over here.”

“You found her, Seaweed Brain. Plus, who better than you? You were drooling when I saw you.”

For a petite little girl, Karsten had a hell of a loud voice. “So it is? What are you gonna do?” She was looking outside the window, her hands bunching up her blanket.

“I’ll show you.” Percy sighed. He had his hand extended out towards Karsten. When she reacted like she was just asked if she would drink bleach for no particular reason, Annabeth patted her leg and shot her a smile.

Out of her own despair, Karsten had no choice but to take this guy’s hand and got up. Her heart was beating miles a second. _That’s it. I’m going to die. In a country I don’t belong in, nonetheless._ He led her through the infirmary and Percy opened the door, revealing the camp.

The infirmary was in between the Big House and the Cave of the Oracle. Standing there, Percy let go of her hand and let her take in the scene in front of her. To her left, a volleyball court was teeming with numerous people, kids and teens alike. And were those... men with goat legs? Satyrs? Yeah, she was definitely dead.

A few meters down, there was an amphitheatre with a campfire. It looked like it would be a good spot for roasting marshmallows. To her left, a giant statue of a pale woman stood. She gleamed in the morning sun. Suddenly, a winged horse—a Pegasus, swoops down with a chariot in tow. Percy yells, “Hey! Watch it!”

A voice replies, “Sorry!”

Karsten takes a moment. Jason sees this as he and Annabeth emerge from the infirmary to check on them. “See, kid? We’re not bad guys. We fight them.”

“You sure about that?” She breathes, soaking up as much of it as possible. There were so many people and they were having _fun._ “This place looks like it could hold you captive.”

“It could very well do that.” A foreign voice says. She turns around to see a white stallion. But as she looks higher up, where the head of the horse should’ve been, there was a man’s torso with unruly hair and a beard.

“You-you’re a centaur!” She exclaims. There’s a familiarity in seeing mythological creatures, her mother was obsessed with Greek in particular. But there was nothing fantasy-like about him. He was real.

Percy says dryly, “Wow. What an observation.” He’s smacked on the head by the centaur.

“Hello, my dear. I’m Chiron.” To Annabeth, he says, “Have you explained everything?”

Annabeth shakes her head in reply. “Karsten here accused us of being child traffickers when we’re clearly children ourselves.”

A blush creeps on the younger girl’s face. “Yeah. Sorry about that. But what _is_ this place?”

Chiron smiles. “Welcome home, to Camp Half Blood.”

**xx**

In the Hades cabin, Will found Nico huddled on his bed. He’s been trying to calm him down by humming soft songs and playing with his hair. Nico’s breathing properly now, “She has her eyes.”

“Hmm?”

“The girl—“

“Karsten.” Will interrupts Nico.

“She’s talking?” He looks surprised.

“Nothing appeared to be wrong. Didn’t even need ambrosia or nectar. As soon as Austin touched her to perform a check up, she started breathing properly.”  
“So what took so long last night?”

“Nothing. Which was the problem. All her vitals were normal, no physical damage at all. We tried to find out what was wrong. But there was nothing.”

“She... reeked of death, Will.” Nico buried his face in his hands. His voice was muffled. “Then she opened her eyes. They were Bianca’s eyes.”

Will looks dumbfounded. Nico couldn’t see it. “Are you saying—“

“No, it isn’t her. It’s impossible.”

“Okay. I believe you.” Will scoops him up. “You gave me a proper heart attack when you shadow-travelled.” 

His voice is gentle, now. His southern accent and concern makes Nico smile. “I’m okay now. I think we can go now. ‘M gonna have to deal with Jason’s anger.”

They quickly fix themselves and Nico has to constantly reassure Will he’s ready to see her. It wasn’t that hard to find the dark-haired girl. She was surrounded by numerous campers, near the dining pavilion. The crowd seems to part for Nico and Will.

They’re surprised when they see her fighting with Malcolm Pace, the second-in-command of the Athena cabin. His grey eyes are filled with fury. Annabeth is standing behind Karsten, amused at the scene unfolding in front of her. Percy is gawking as her voice grows louder. “—a misogynistic, racist, homophobic prick? That’s one way to put it.”

“With his strategy and the statistics, h-he’s bound to win!”

Her arms are crossed, but her face is relaxed. The flower crown on her head had changed, and it was now a silver one. “But do you _really_ want that?”

Though she was a good foot smaller than Malcolm, her eyes turned to steel and the boy was at a loss for words. Karsten had a knowing smile on her lips. Malcolm grunted and stormed off towards the dining pavilion.

The crowd bustled, some clapped and whistles, some stayed silent. Nico took a deep breath and hastily grabbed hold of Will’s hand, giving it a squeeze. As everyone else left for breakfast, they approached her.

Karsten was receiving a pat on the back from Annabeth as she mumbled something to Percy. “Hey,” Nico said. For once, he was grateful his dark hair was in the way, as he didn’t have to stare straight at the gi—Karsten.

Instead of a pat, he got a quick punch from Annabeth. “Percy freaked out when you did that. He basically threatened Jason.”

Nico’s brows furrowed, “What do you mean?” Why would Percy be mad at Jason? It wasn’t his fault he tripped and freaked out or anything.

Annabeth shot him a look that said, ‘later’ when he saw Percy approaching, the girl in tow. He gave him a quick one armed hug and stood beside his girlfriend. He’d accidentally let go of Will’s hand in the process and didn’t want to reach back and look so needy. He stuffed them in his dark bomber jacket as Karsten stopped in front of him. He avoided her eyes as he mumbled, “Hi. I’m Nico.”

To his shock, there was concern in her voice. “I’m Karsten. Are you okay? There was quite a fuss about you.”

He scanned her face. Bold, large features and tanned skin. There was an accent in her voice that implied she could very well speak another language. “I’m okay, thanks for asking.” He cleared his throat and gestured to his lovely companion. “This is Will. He’s my boyfriend.”

Without missing a beat, she smiled warmly. “Hi, Will. Thanks for helping me—this morning, I mean.”

Will placed his head on top of Nico’s. “You’re welcome. How are you enjoying the camp?”

“Yeah, well. Uhm... what’s its’ purpose, really? And _can_ I even leave?”

Will was suddenly uncomfortable. He checked and even Percy and Annabeth were. Nico didn’t seem to be fazed and didn’t seem to be aware of it. “I think we should discuss this over food.”

**xx**

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaand we end it there. i’m going to try updating this at least once a week. i’ve acquired the hidden oracle and oh my gods. it was beautiful. openly bisexual Apollo was gr8. i really want to talk about this but I’m going to try having long end notes every three chapters bc honestly who wants to hear abt me going on and on.
> 
> ALSO. there was a big problem as I read toa. I had imagined something very similar to a key component in it and I’m trying hard to snake around it. I have to change this major plot point because I don’t want people saying “omg that was in the hidden oracle !1!!!!!1 you stole the plot !@!!!!!” I’ll elaborate on this next time J
> 
> thoughts? praise? criticism? death threats? is anyone even reading this? leave them here !

**Author's Note:**

> The Lotus is also available on Wattpad, my user is horribleached.
> 
> all percy jackson and the olympians, heroes of olympus and trials of apollo characters and plots belong to rick riordan. i do not own them nor do i claim their rights


End file.
